[TBJ]

Hello all. Been reading this forum for a while and have gotten lots of great advice off this site.

I moved here about 2 weeks ago from the US with my wife (a HK resident). We both are fairly young and just graduated in December. I majored in Business Administration with a focus on Finance. I studied mostly corporate finance and financial deritives (futures, warrants/options).

I do not have any experience working in the finance industry. While I was at the university, I worked in sales for 2 years and worked in the non-profit sector for 2 years as administrative support.

I know the finance industry here is very competitive and I have heard it will be very difficult for me to find a job. I do not speak Cantonese or Mandarin, at least not yet, and I know this will limit me in my job possibilities. I am very involved in finance though, and I make most of my money in the mean time through my personal trading in the US markets.

A lot of the job postings I have seen are looking for at least 2 years experience or someone that can speak fluent English, Cantonese, and Mandarin!! That two strikes again me.

I do not know where to even begin my job search. Can anyone offer some advice, or has someone been through this before and can give me some tips?

[jimbo]

TBJ

My previous advice given to others works in pretty much all sectors.

Firstly you need to NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK thats one of the best ways to get yourself know in this town.

Get some business cards done with your contact details and a brief outline of what you can do etc and then hit the numerous networking events in this town, Go to the Geoexpat happy hours, Join Oriented.com and essentially pimp yourself out to all and sundry and pretty much get yourself known.

Whilst you're doing this try and get some Cantonese/Mandarin lessons under your belt as it will help you in the long run.

Get your C.V up to date and target the big financial recruitment agencies and have a chat with them to see what the market is like currently etc and see what they can do for you.

As you don't require sponsorship then you may have to take a more junior role just to get your foot in the door and at least you're in and you can then network from there.

Good luck and all the best in your search, I know how tough it is as I'm going through the same albeit I'm in a different industry to you, Only now I'm getting some potential offers and its not my first choice role but we all have to start somewhere.

[TBJ]

Thanks a lot for your advice. I signed up on Oriented and there is an upcoming meeting next week. I plan on attending that. Hopefully I can make some connections.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by TBJ

Thanks a lot for your advice. I signed up on Oriented and there is an upcoming meeting next week. I plan on attending that. Hopefully I can make some connections.

TBJ

I plan on attending that one as well, As I don't really know anybody there myself do you want to meet up beforehand and head there together?

Oh and get a business card done beforehand, go to print100.com and you can do it all online and it'll take 2 business days to get done.

[pumi23]

what is oriented actually doing? (except of the happy hour organizations)

i checked their website and most of it is google ads.

difficult to find any useful information on it.

who are the members? focus on specific industries?

let me know...
thanks,
sandra

[HKforever]

Glad to hear that someone is in the same situation as me

I also recently graduated with a degree in Finance. I'm looking forward to relocating to HK in 2 weeks.

Perhaps we can meet up and share our experiences.

Originally Posted by TBJ

Hello all. Been reading this forum for a while and have gotten lots of great advice off this site.

I moved here about 2 weeks ago from the US with my wife (a HK resident). We both are fairly young and just graduated in December. I majored in Business Administration with a focus on Finance. I studied mostly corporate finance and financial deritives (futures, warrants/options).

I do not have any experience working in the finance industry. While I was at the university, I worked in sales for 2 years and worked in the non-profit sector for 2 years as administrative support.

I know the finance industry here is very competitive and I have heard it will be very difficult for me to find a job. I do not speak Cantonese or Mandarin, at least not yet, and I know this will limit me in my job possibilities. I am very involved in finance though, and I make most of my money in the mean time through my personal trading in the US markets.

A lot of the job postings I have seen are looking for at least 2 years experience or someone that can speak fluent English, Cantonese, and Mandarin!! That two strikes again me.

I do not know where to even begin my job search. Can anyone offer some advice, or has someone been through this before and can give me some tips?

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by pumi23

what is oriented actually doing? (except of the happy hour organizations)

i checked their website and most of it is google ads.

difficult to find any useful information on it.

who are the members? focus on specific industries?

let me know...
thanks,
sandra

Its a networking site which also has job ads etc, Its not a forum as such and you go to the happy hrs just to pretty much mingle and network, They're usually your overseas born chinese who work in the Finance/I.T sector etc.

Members can be pretty much everyone and anyone working in the corporate world.

[mishmash]

I'm planning on going too. TBJ, I'm also a recent graduate and new to HK.

[wise_and_well]

In my opinion, the job market for foreigners here is not very 'user friendly'. I constantly researched it before deciding to just put all of my energy and time into starting my own company. I majored in Business/Finance, but found that since I could not speak Cantonese or Mandarin, there was almost zero possibility of getting a job here by conventional means. The others who recommended networking/ pimping yourself are correct.

The decent/good jobs are highly coveted and the competition is cut-throat. Being married to a citizen puts you at a greater advantage than those who are not but have the same skills. Good luck to you! I fear that if I weren't a rock star in my field, and self employed, I'd be pan handling on the streets of Mong Kok.

[TBJ]

Hey guys, sorry I didn't reply earlier, I spent the weekend in Macau losing money.

Jimbo, that would be great to meet up beforehand. I'll send you a PM.

I'm going to try to get some business cards done before Thurs. I am at a loss on what to put on it besides my name and number. Should I list my skills on it?